80 CARNIVORA. 
The Tayra seems to be widely but locally distributed throughout Central America. 
The Zoological Society have received it from Panama; and Dr. v. Frantzius saw a few 
skins in Costa Rica which were remarkably black in colour with a yellow breast-spot °. 
According to Tschudi the Tayra of Peru shows a similar intensity of coloration; but 
this is a point in which the species varies greatly. Thus a half-grown Nicaraguan 
example in the Copenhagen Museum is entirely of a uniform dark brown, while two 
Mexican specimens of about the same age in the British Museum have the head and 
shoulders almost pure white, the white patch on the breast being defined in front by an 
indistinct V-shaped dark line. This style of coloration, which agrees with Hernandez’s 
description of the Tepeytzcuitli, appears to prevail in Mexico; two Yucatan examples 
in M. Boucard’s collection are very black, with pale grey heads and napes and small 
triangular white breast-spots. Messrs. Godman and Salvin did not obtain the Tayra in 
Guatemala; but Mr. Leyland found it in British Honduras, living in troops of from 
fifteen to twenty among the pine-ridges of Belize ?. 
. 3. MEPHITIS. 
Mephitis, Cuvier, Lecons d’Anat. Comp. i. 1° Tabl. (1800). 
The Skunks, animals of unenviable notoriety, are exclusively a New-World group. 
They agree closely in general appearance and in essential structure, but are divisible 
into two well-marked genera, of which the first, Mephitis proper, is Nearctic, and the 
second, Conepatus, is Neotropical in distribution. These two types meet in Central 
America. 
The Skunks of the restricted genus Mephitis have three premolars above and below, 
a pointed muzzle, lateral nostrils, narrow feet, with partially clad soles, and a long and 
bushy tail. They present an extraordinary amount of variation, not only in coloration 
but in size and even in osteological characters; and this variation has led to the 
description of a number of species. Of these, Dr. Elliott Coues and Mr. J. A. Allen 
consider that only two or three are valid; and their opinion is of great weight, as the 
material at their disposal is much greater than that enjoyed by European zoologists. A 
comparison of all the specimens to which I have access leads me fully to indorse their 
views, and to agree with Dr. Coues in recognizing only the three following species :— 
1. M. mephitica. Black; nape white ; two dorsal white stripes often fused in 
front. Tail with hair, shorter or little longer than head and body. 
2. M. macrura. Black; a broad hoary dorsal band (long hairs white, fur grey), 
and two narrow lateral white stripes. Tail without hair, as long as head and 
body. 
. M. putorius. Black, marked with numerous spots and narrow interrupted 
white stripes. Tail shorter than the body only. 
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